GPs clear to strike deals with drug firms

26th April 2011

Changes in the pharmaceutical industry's code of ethics will see family doctors are strike deals with pharmaceutical companies to make expensive drugs available to patients and receive compensation if they do not work well enough.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has altered its code so it 'does not preclude' so-called risk-sharing agreements, but has stressed strict conditions must be met to ensure individual GPs do not benefit personally from them. GP consortia will now be able to negotiate risk-sharing agreements with pharmaceutical companies.